Dictionary/Ecclesiastical/Antichrist

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Antichrist. It is the belief of the whole Church, that before our Lord comes again, a real individual being will appear in the world, who will become an evil power, persecute the Church, and lead many into apostasy. The general notion of antichrist, as a power opposing itself to the reign of the Messias, may be traced back beyond the Christian era. Its origin is, perhaps, to be found in the prophecy of Ezechiel, concerning the doom of Gog and Magog. The ancient Jews conceived, that immediately before the Messias's reign, national adversity must be experienced in an extreme degree, and that an angel of Satan would appear, who must be overcome before prosperity could be restored. This was antichrist. The idea is adopted in the New Testament, although the term antichrist occurs in no place of Scripture, except in the First and Second Epistles of St. John.